1 

MILLIONS  FOR  TRIBUTE 
NOT  ONE  CENT  FOR  DEFENSE 


A  Reply  to  Henry  Ford 


By 

HENRY  B.  JOY 

Detroit,  Mich. 


feet 

Annex 

£~ 

077 


The  Wrong  of  "Unpreparedness" 

A  Reply  to  The  Peace-at-any-Price  Propaganda 
of  Henry  Ford 

Mr.  Ford's  statement  is  reprinted  on  page  11 

Differences  of  opinion  among  men  are  but  the  natural  result 
of  the  differing  mentalities  with  which  nature  has  endowed  them. 

It  is  announced  that  "Henry  Ford's  wealth,  gained  in  the 
pursuit  of  things  of  peace,  will  be  given  to  aid  the  world  in  its 
effort  for  an  unending  peace."  A  splendid  spirit  of  self-sacrifice 
in  the  interest  of  the  welfare  of  the  human  race  is  thus  exem- 
plified. I  indeed  wish  Mr.  Ford's  wealth  which  he  has  created 
could  accomplish  the  purpose  he  seeks.  But  how  will  he  give  his 
wealth  to  the  work,  and  how  soon,  because  indeed  time  presses? 

Mr.  Ford  is  quoted  as  saying,  "I  would  teach  the  child  at  its 
mother's  knee  what  a  horrible,  wasteful  and  unavailing  thing 
war  is." 

I  do  not  believe  much  expenditure  on  his  part  toward  this  end 
is  necessary.  It  is  obvious  what  war  is.  It  has  been  many  times 
painted,  pictured  and  portrayed  in  all  its  horrors  and  wastes  and 
all  of  Mr.  Ford's  millions  would  make  but  a  small  addition  to  the 
total  already  spent  and  being  spent  to  the  desired  end. 

The  small  boy  is  taught  and  has  been  taught  the  horrors  of 
war  through  all  time,  but  nature  has  provided  that  what  may  be 
the  horrors  of  war  to  those  it  has  endowed  with  peace-at-any- 
price  ideas,  are  not  by  any  means  the  views  of  war  held  by  the 
young  hopefuls  of  the  world's  people.  In  fact,  nature  has  pro- 
vided that  those  youngsters  look  upon  war  as  a  pretty  good  prop- 
osition. They  see  lots  of  opportunities  of  proving  their  superior 
mettle  and  ability.  I  do  not  think  Mr.  Ford  would  get  very  far 
with  the  child  at  its  mother's  knee.  I  know  I  cannot  with  mine 
and  the  more  dead  and  dreadful  horrors  there  are  in  the  war 
pictures  of  the  day  the  more  delighted  he  is  with  them,  and  the 
delay  is  irksome  until  he  can  get  over  to  the  neighbor's  yard  and 
engage  in  the  sham  battles  which  sometimes  become  real  and  now 
and  then  end  disastrously  for  him. 

To  labor  with  a  small  boy  over  the  horrors  of  war  would  be 
like  seeking  to  carry  water  in  a  sieve  and  Mr.  Ford  is  too  good  a 
mechanic  to  try  that. 

So  we  have,  I  assume,  to  start  in  on  his  campaign  for  peace 


21 177RR 


at  some  other  place  of  beginning,  leaving  the  mothers  to  overcome 
as  best  they  may  the  instincts  of  nature.  It  is  quite  unfortunate 
that  these  instincts  were  put  by  nature  into  humans  before  my 
good  friend  Mr.  Ford  had  a  chance  to  modify  them.  But  there 
they  are,  nevertheless. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  circumstances  and  conditions  and 
environment  make  some  difference  in  a  man's  mental  attitude. 
It  may  be  that  if  Mr.  Ford's  factory  instead  of  being  just  outside 
of  Detroit,  and  if  his  home  instead  of  being  in  the  peaceful  village 
of  Dearborn  were  or  had  been  located  in  the  formerly  prosperous 
state  of  Belgium,  his  views  as  to  the  desirability  of  military  train- 
ing and  preparedness  might  be  tinged  with  a  different  coloring. 

He  might  think  more  favorably  of  those  men  of  strong  fibre 
who  were  prepared  to  the  best  of  their  ability  to  resist  the  inroads 
of  the  invading  hordes  of  an  overwhelmingly  prepared  and  trained 
nation  seeking  it  is  alleged  "more  room  in  the  sun,"  whatever 
that  may  mean.  At  any  rate  we  have  the  result — an  industrious 
nation  utterly  overrun,  devastated  and  destroyed. 

I  think  it  would  be  better  for  Mr.  Ford  to  adopt  that  as  a 
point  of  beginning  and  seek  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  such  an 
unfortunate  event  in  the  world's  history. 

He  frankly  states  that  he  does  not  know  how  or  where  to 
begin ;  therefore  I  assume  he  will  not  resent  a  frank  suggestion. 

I  suggest  that  he  devote  his  forces  to  prevent  a  repetition  of 
a  Belgium  destroyed.  If  he  can  do  that  then  he  would  be  well 
rewarded  and  recompensed  by  sacrificing  his  millions  to  that  end, 
and  the  world  would  be  bettered  forever. 

If  a  repetition  of  the  Belgium  devastation  can  be  prevented, 
then  indeed  will  the  world  have  traveled  far  towards  a  cessation 
of  wars. 

There  is  a  strong  feeling  in  my  mind  that  to  talk  for  peace 
today  in  the  United  States,  no  matter  how  earnestly  we  all  as  a 
people  may  desire  peace  in  the  world,  is  to  embarrass  our  govern- 
ment in  its  sincere  efforts  to  maintain  peace  with  honor  and 
national  self-respect,  if  indeed  such  a  condition  is  at  all  possible 
under  the  circumstances  which  have  developed  and  carried  us  on 
as  a  nation  to  the  brink  of  international  war. 

And  if  circumstances  beyond  our  control  force  us  over  the 
edge  of  the  war  precipice,  we  will  find  ourselves  utterly  unfitted, 
untrained  and  unprepared  for  war. 

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Mr.  Ford  says,  "We  do  not  want  war.  We  will  not  have  war." 
He  says,  "Surely  the  world  is  big  enough  for  all  to  live  in  at  peace 
with  all." 

But  he  does  not  seem  to  realize  that  there  are  always  the  big 
fellows,  the  big  bullies  that  have  to  be  curbed,  who  have  to  be 
regulated  and  limited  by  stronger  authority  than  their  own  wills. 
He  surely  must  know  that  the  races  of  the  earth  never  have  lived 
at  peace,  and  while  the  United  States  has  had  great  immunity 
from  war  during  the  period  of  its  existence,  yet  during  that  inter- 
val the  world  has  been  made  to  grow  very  small  by  improved 
transportation  and  that  all  nations  now  are  very  near  neighbors. 
The  ocean  instead  of  a  barrier  of  defense  is  the  highway  open  to 
the  invader. 

It  seems  apparent  also  that  our  responsibility  as  a  nation,  if 
we  are  to  be  one  at  all,  requires  us  to  be  able  to  take  our  share  of 
the  burdens  of  such  a  responsibility  and  be  capable  of  joining 
others  to  enforce  right  and  justice  among  nations,  and  to  defend 
ourselves  in  the  event  some  other  power  does  not  think  our  ideas 
of  justice  are  correct  ones.  Some  nation  may  be  today  looking 
with  covetous  eyes  on  our  "place  in  the  sun,"  which  location  has 
made  Mr.  Ford  so  prosperous  under  the  wise  laws  which  in  the 
main  through  generations  have  controlled  our  international  affairs 
and  protected  our  industries  and  prosperity  and  peace. 

It  is  certain  that  no  other  nations  are  particularly  devoting 
their  efforts  to  the  promoting  of  American  international  or  domes- 
tic trade,  and  if  we  propose  to  develop  and  expand  and  protect 
our  trade  it  will  be  because  of  our  wilful  intent  and  preparedness 
to  do  so,  and  to  maintain  the  prosperity  of  our  country. 

It  is  not  beyond  the  realm  of  reason,  it  is  indeed  very  possible, 
even  probable,  that  Germany  may,  in  the  event  of  her  being  vic- 
torious, lay  a  heavy  tribute  on  the  United  States  for  our  having 
shipped  supplies  and  munitions  of  war  to  her  enemies. 

The  levying  of  unfair  tribute,  as  it  was  then  viewed,  led  the 
American  Colonies  to  break  away  from  England  and  set  up  the 
nation  of  red-blooded  people  that  have  grown  and  developed  to 
a  condition  of  prosperity  so  that  Mr.  Ford  has  created  for  him- 
self a  mighty  industry  out  of  that  prosperity,  the  foundations 
of  which  were  laid  by  Washington  and  his  half-starved,  half- 
clothed,  armed  citizenry,  aided  to  the  point  of  success  by  France 
and  Lafayette.  France  crossed  what  was  then  a  very  wide  ocean 

5 


to  come  to  our  aid.  The  records  show  that  in  1780,  after  a  voyage 
of  seventy  days,  forty  French  vessels  arrived  at  Rhode  Island 
with  fifty-five  hundred  French  soldiers  placed  directly  under 
Washington's  command,  and  bringing  eight  million  livres  of 
French  gold  to  pay  for  their  supplies  and  other  wants.  Today  a 
hundred  times  as  many  troops  could  be  landed  in  this  United 
States  in  one-tenth  of  seventy  days  to  enforce  any  tribute  asked. 

Would  Mr.  Ford  have  been  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence?  Would  he  have  been  a  soldier  in  Washington's 
army? 

Mr.  Ford  says — "In  all  the  history  of  civilization  I  cannot  find 
one  man  who  has  justified  war!" 

Were  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  justi- 
fied? Was  the  war  that  followed  justified?  I  am  sure  Mr. 
Ford  will  not  say  that  we  were  not  justified  in  the  war  of  1812 ! 
Were  we  justified  in  the  Mexican  war?  Was  the  war  prevent- 
able which  was  unfortunately  precipitated  because  we  in  the 
United  States  could  not  understand  each  other  as  to  the  menace 
of  slavery  to  our  nation?  Those  who  took  part  in  that  war  on 
both  sides  now  all  agree  that  it  made  of  us  again  a  united,  vig- 
orous people. 

Were  we  justified  in  sending  our  men  and  ships  to  protect 
Americans  and  aid  in  protecting  those  of  other  nationalities  in 
the  Boxer  troubles  in  China?  We  could  not  have  done  it  if  we 
had  not  had  the  armed  ships  and  trained  armed  men  ready  on  the 
instant,  which  is  what  Mr.  Ford  so  violently  opposes  as  a  policy. 

When  the  U.  S.  S.  Maine,  of  sacred  memory,  while  making  a 
friendly  call  in  Havana  harbor,  was  escorted  by  the  Spanish  auth- 
orities to  a  "safe"  mooring  buoy  and  blown  up  and  our  flag  dis- 
honored and  several  hundred  red-blooded,  good  American  sailors' 
lives  snuffed  out,  ought  we  to  have  apologized  for  having  been 
there  at  all?  Were  our  actions  in  undertaking  the  war  unjusti- 
fied ?  Many  of  us  who  went  to  the  Spanish  War  felt  that  we  were 
justified  in  answering  the  call  of  our  government  for  men.  Does 
Mr.  Ford  believe  in  the  words  of  the  song,  "I  didn't  raise  my  boy 
to  be  a  soldier  ?"  I  am  sure  he  cannot,  though  he  flatly  says  so. 

Mr.  Ford  believes  in  peace  as  do  all  his  fellow  countrymen. 
He  believes  in  unpreparedness,  in  which  I  hope  all  his  fellow 
countrymen  disagree  with  him,  as  I  certainly  do.  Indeed  I  should 
be  grieved  more  than  I  can  express  if  my  good  friend  can  or  does 

6 


array  himself  on  the  side  of  Bryan  and  his  followers.  There 
has  never  been,  it  seems  to  me,  a  more  conspicuously  disgraced 
man  since  Benedict  Arnold's  day  than  Mr.  Bryan.  Mr.  Bryan 
saw  fit  to  desert  his  post  of  duty,  the  most  important  office  next 
to  that  of  the  Presidency  itself,  in  a  time  of  serious  international 
negotiations,  being  carried  on  in  an  effort  to  secure  peace  and 
respect  to  Americans.  He  saw  fit  to  compel  us  to  show  a  divided 
front  to  a  possible  enemy.  Could  such  a  desertion  of  the  post  of 
duty  at  a  critical  moment  be  called  less  than  traitorous  to  the 
cause  of  America — "Peace  with  honor?" 

Mr.  Ford  goes  further  and  authoritatively  speaks  for  Mr. 
Edison,  who  has  been  asked  by  the  Government  to  co-operate  in 
war  plans  and  who  has  accepted  the  Chairmanship  of  the  Com- 
mittee working  to  that  end.  Mr.  Ford  says  "Mr.  Edison  will 
never  use  his  great  brain  to  make  anything  which  would  destroy 
human  life  or  human  property."  Yet  Mr.  Edison  is  actually  on 
the  work  as  Chairman  in  seeking  to  upbuild  our  military  effi- 
ciency. Mr.  Edison  is  truly  a  man  of  great  brain.  He  has 
devised  wonderful  things.  He  has  said  many  strong  patriotic 
things.  I  believe  Mr.  Edison  would  have  signed  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  and  been  in  Washington's  army.  At  any  rate, 
I  feel  that  Mr.  Edison  can  speak  for  himself  as  an  American  as 
he  has  done  in  the  past.  Does  Mr.  Edison  accept  Mr.  Ford  as 
his  spokesman?  If  he  does,  he  should  instantly  be  asked  to  resign 
from  the  Committee  in  aid  of  war  plans.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
Mr.  Edison  is  now  supplying  his  storage  batteries  for  our  sub- 
marines— the  most  deadly  of  our  war  devices ! 

Mr.  Ford's  desire  to  accomplish  permanent  peace  is  a  very 
laudable  object.  We  should  all  join  forces  to  that  end,  but  will 
not  Mr.  Ford's  attitude  urging  strict  non-preparedness,  and 
therefore  necessarily  the  acceptance  uncomplainingly  of  any 
-demand  for  tribute  or  indemnity,  or  any  insult  or  harm  to  Amer- 
icans by  the  victors  in  the  European  conflict,  only  tend  to  pro- 
mote the  recurrence  of  war?  Will  any  peace,  which  is  only  a 
peace  during  which  to  repair  and  recuperate,  be  a  beneficial 
peace  ? 

The  nations  of  Europe  are  doing  more  to  establish  permanent 
peace  than  is  the  United  States  of  America,  or  Mr.  Ford.  They 
are  struggling,  fighting,  sacrificing,  dying  for  that  very  object. 

7 


Their  citizens  are  dying  by  thousands  that  permanent  peace  may 
be  restored  and  the  invader  held  back  to  the  limitations  of  his 
own  country. 

According  to  Mr.  Ford's  religion,  no  resistance  should  be 
offered  to  the  invader.  No  state  of  preparedness  should  have 
been  available  to  the  nations  to  resist  one  of  their  number  who 
might  seek  to  expand  and  conquer. 

Would  it  have  been  better  if  France  had  not  sent  us  General 
Lafayette  and  his  troops  without  whose  aid  the  war  would  no 
doubt  have  been  ended  favorably  to  the  English  in  the  days  when 
our  early  colonists  resisted  the  burdens  sought  to  be  placed  on 
them? 

Should  we  not  now  as  a  nation  be  able  to  resent  any  insults 
and  injuries  extended  to,  or  burdens  of  tribute  levied  on  our 
nation  and  our  citizens,  as  our  forefathers  did  for  us  in  similar 
circumstances?  Would  not  such  a  course  tend  more  to  the  ces- 
sation of  wars  for  all  time,  if  all  nations  today  joined  together 
to  stand  for  the  right  as  God  gives  them  light  to  see  the  right, 
and  backed  by  guns  and  not  by  "scraps  of  paper"  treaties  ? 

Is  the  heritage  left  to  us  by  those  who  have  fought  and  died 
that  America  might  exist  as  a  free  and  righteous  people  a  heritage 
of  disgrace?  Are  we  a  changed  people?  Is  our  blood  turned 
to  water?  Are  we  always  hereafter  to  exist  by  permission  of 
other  nations  whose  blood  is  red?  Is  our  oversea  trade  always 
to  be  in  the  ships  of  other  nations  and  by  permission  of  other 
nations  as  it  is  today  ? 

It  is  even  a  serious  question  whether  as  a  people  serving  our 
own  ends  as  a  nation,  we  should  not  aid  in  defending  the  weak 
against  the  strong.  Should  we  not  possibly  even  aid  those  nations 
who  have  followed  our  example  and  Mr.  Ford's  advice,  and  not 
maintained  a  condition  of  complete  preparedness,  and  who  are 
now  consequently  the  victims  of  the  impossible  attitude  of  dis- 
armament and  unpreparedness  for  defense  of  their  industries 
and  their  homes  ?  What  is  our  duty  as  a  people  ? 

Has  there  ever  been  a  time  in  our  history  when  such  insults, 
if  we  may  call  them  such,  by  foreigners  both  at  home  and  abroad 
have  been  extended  to  the  President  of  the  United  States? 

Does  Mr.  Ford  realize  that  his  statement  broad  and  long 

8 


throughout,  rings  with  the  same  embarrassments  to  those  whom 
we  have  put  in  authority,  the  President  and  others,  as  do  the 
resolutions  of  the  German-Alliances  and  other  similar  foreigners 
and  foreign  publications  among  us? 

I  think  and  feel  that  if  Mr.  Ford  had  had  the  whole  picture 
before  him,  he  would  not  have  by  thought  or  act  tended  to  aid 
those  who  are  obviously  seeking  to  embarrass  the  American  peo- 
ple in  the  performance  of  the  plain  duty  they  owe  themselves 
as  a  people,  to  instantly  plan  and  put  in  force  a  scheme  for  effi- 
cient military  preparedness  commensurate  with  the  ability  of 
this  nation  so  to  do,  and  fully  and  amply  in  proportion  to  our 
national  military  and  naval  requirements  as  urged  by  those  who 
know,  and  they  are  not  civilians, — namely,  the  General  Boards 
of  the  Army  and  Navy. 

It  is  obvious  that  our  international  relations  are  critical.  Any 
American  who  in  these  times  wittingly  seeks  to  embarrass  and 
prevent  the  President  and  the  Congress  from  insisting  on  and 
obtaining  every  respect  for  American  rights  which  it  is  right- 
ful should  be  ours  from  any  and  every  nation  of  the  earth,  is, 
whether  he  knows  it  or  not,  deliberately  tending  to  precipitate 
this  country  into  a  war — a  righteous  war  to  protect  its  honor, 
compel  respect  and  defend  its  citizens,  who  have  a  right  to  look 
to  their  flag  and  their  American  passports  as  an  adequate  protec- 
tion in  their  lawful  affairs. 

Mr.  Ford  is  quoted  as  saying: — 

"I  could  make  vast  sums  from  warfare  if  I  so 
chose,  but  it  would  be  better  to  die  a  pauper  than  that 
anything  that  I  have  helped  to  make,  or  that  any 
thought,  word  or  act  of  mine  should  be  used  for  the 
furtherance  of  this  slaughter." 

An  impression  might  be  drawn  from  this  statement  that  Mr. 
Ford  would  discountenance  supplying  the  belligerents  with  Ford 
cars  or  any  other  supplies  necessary  to  contending  armies  or 
nations.  Yet  at  the  plant  of  the  Ford  Motor  Co.,  Ltd.,  of 
England,  at  Manchester,  there  is  being  filled  now  a  war  order 
for  fifteen  thousand  Ford  ambulance  cars  for  the  English 
Government  alone.  This  fact  was  stated  by  Mr.  P.  L.  D. 

9 


Perry,  manager  of  the  English  Company,  recently  to  a  Detroit 
newspaper  and  I  have  quoted  from  that  paper. 

Further,  I  quote  as  follows  another  newspaper  item : 

"The  British  Government  sends  one  hundred  soldiers 
from  the  Army  Transport  Service  to  the  Ford  works  at 
Manchester,  England,  for  two  weeks  at  a  time  to  learn 
how  to  repair  machines  in  the  field." 

These  facts  only  go  to  show  how  far  the  ramifications  of 
Mr.  Ford's  business  extend,  probably  without  his  knowledge, 
into  the  belligerent  armies,  and  that  Mr.  Ford's  very  small  and 
reasonable  profit  derived  therefrom  is  obtained  by  and  with  the 
consent  only  of  the  British  Navy,  which  so  efficiently  has  kept 
open  the  highways  of  the  sea  to  Mr.  Ford's  oversea  commerce. 

If  this  nation  is  saved  from  war,  with  honor  and  prestige 
retained,  it  will  be  due  to  the  almost  solidly  united  front  pre- 
sented by  the  patriotic  press  of  the  nation  in  educating  the  people 
in  the  just  doctrines  of  the  rights  of  Americans  travelling  on  the 
high  seas,  and  in  the  pursuit  of  our  lawful  trade  and  commerce 
between  nations. 

It  should,  however,  be  ever  uppermost  in  our  minds  that 
whatever  oversea  commerce  this  nation  is  enjoying  today  is  by 
virtue  of  the  strong  arm  extending  over  the  seas  of  the  world 
of  the  armed  fleets  of  the  allied  nations,  especially  that  of  Great 
Britain,  and  not  by  virtue  of  our  own  intelligence  and  prepared- 
ness to  demand  and  defend  our  rights  against  those  who  might 
see  fit  to  curtail  them. 

This  country  is  placed  directly  in  the  position  of  trying  to 
compel  respect  for  its  rights  by  mere  words,  by  the  mere  asking 
— rights  which  no  self-respecting  nation  should  surrender  except 
to  a  superior  power  after  a  contest  of  arms. 

We  cannot  under  our  existing  unpreparedness  obtain  and 
retain  our  own  national  rights  if  seriously  opposed  therein,  much 
less  make  effective  the  very  able  protest  of  the  President  against 
the  wanton  destruction  on  the  seas  of  the  lives  of  innocent  non- 
combatants,  even  of  women  and  of  babies. 

HENRY  B.  JOY. 
August  28th,  1915. 

10 


From  Detroit  Free  Press,  Sunday,  August  22nd,  1915 

HENRY  FORD  TO  PUSH 
WORLD-WIDE  CAMPAIGN 
FOR  UNIVERSAL  PEACE 


Will  Devote  Life  and  Fortune  to 

Combat  Spirit  of  Militarism 

Now  Rampant. 


LAUGHS  AT  THOSE  WHO  PREDICT 

SUCCESSFUL  INVASION  OF  U.  S. 


Scores  Hypocrites  Who  Pretend  to 

Be  Religious,  Yet  Foster  War 

For  Sordid  Gain. 


"I  will  do  everything  in  my  power  to  prevent  murderous, 
wasteful  war  in  America  and  in  the  whole  world;  I  will  devote 
my  life  to  fight  this  spirit  which  is  now  felt  in  the  free  and 
peaceful  air  of  the  United  States,  the  spirit  of  militarism,  mother 
to  the  cry  of  'preparedness' — preparedness,  the  root  of  all  war." 

These  words,  uttered  Saturday  by  Henry  Ford,  hater  of  war 
and  visualizer  of  vast  foresight,  marked  the  beginning  of  what 
will  henceforth  be  the  life-work  of  the  man — to  strike  with 
everything  he  commands  at  what  he  declares  to  be  the  direct 
cause  of  all  wars  and  all  national  antipathies  that  breed  war — 
"preparedness." 

"I  would  teach  the  child  at  its  mother's  knee,"  said  Mr.  Ford, 
"what  a  horrible,  wasteful  and  unavailing  thing  war  is.  In  the 
home  and  in  the  schools  of  the  world  I  would  see  the  child 
taught  to  feel  the  uselessness  of  war;  that  war  is  a  thing  unnec- 
essary; that  preparation  for  war  can  only  end  in  war. 

11 


Will  Give  Much  to  End  Wasteful  "Preparation" 

"I  have  prospered  much,  and  I  am  ready  to  give  much  to  end 
this  constant,  wasteful  'preparation.'  Not  by  building  palaces 
of  peace,  not  by  inspiring  fearful  peace  by  powerful  armament, 
but  by  teaching  the  men,  women  and  children  of  America  that 
war  does  not  threaten  us,  that  war  will  not  reach  us,  that  the 
fullness  of  peace  is  their  inheritance,  not  the  burden  of  militarism 
with  its  heavy  hand  that  curbs  liberty  and  its  foul  sustenance 
upon  the  blood,  the  labor  and  the  toil-earned  happiness  and  goods 
of  the  worker. 

Entire  World  United  in  Demand  for  Peace 
"This  I  would  make  a  world  work,  for  all  the  world  cries  for 
peace,  and  there  can  be  no  peace  while  there  remains  one  set  of 
these  militaristic  parasites  who  encourage  war  and  who  damn  all 
whose  ideas  of  patriotism  and  love  of  their  fellowmen  does  not 
call  for  arming  brother  against  brother. 

"I  confess  I  do  not  know  how  it  is  best  to  undertake  this  work 
in  an  organized  manner.  I  realize  it  is  a  vast  undertaking.  Yet 
I  want  to  see  this  nation  and  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  nourishing 
that  feeling,  already  deeply  implanted  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
millions,  that  is  expressed  in  the  words:  'We  do  not  want  war. 
We  will  not  have  war.  We  will  not  have  amongst  us  the  breeders 
of  war,  be  they  men  who  cry  out  that  the  enemy  seeks  us,  and  we 
must  prepare  for  him,  or  be  they  only  those  who  would  dazzle 
with  the  false  glory  that  has  been  the  cloak  of  murder  for 
centuries.' 

"The  seed  of  this  project  is  right  here  in  the  Ford  organization, 
in  hundreds  of  organizations  throughout  the  country.  We  have 
to  develop  it  and  nourish  its  growth.  The  workshops,  the  farms, 
fair  and  just  conditions,  equitable  prices  and  commercial  unsel- 
fishness are  the  things  we  wish  to  improve. 

People  of  All  Lands  Cry  Out  Against  War 

"By  some  remote  and  providential  scheme  a  little  good  might 
result  through  the  use  of  guns,  warships,  shrapnel  and  torpedo. 
To  my  mind  this  is  the  last  and  most  remote  means  that  could 
possibly  be  suggested  to  gain  the  national  or  world-wide  end 
that  most  sober-minded  men  wish  to  obtain. 

"When  men  think  and  work,  they  do  right,  and  the  voice  of 
the  people,  I  do  believe,  in  every  land  under  the  sun,  cries  out 

12 


against  war.  The  trouble  is  that  they  do  not  make  enough 
noise,  and  the  yell  of  the  few  who,  for  monetary  gain,  want 
war  just  at  this  particular  time,  seems  to  prevail. 

"We  who  can,  ought  to  help  in  the  right  direction.  It's  a 
pathetic  sight  and  positive  fact  that  most  men  who  pose  as  stand- 
ing for  the  best  things  in  life  and  who  pray  to  God  in  churches 
on  Sundays  for  peace  (the  very  pillars  of  the  church,  they  are 
called)  are  busiest  nowadays  in  obtaining  the  orders  that  will 
enable  them  to  convert  their  factories  into  workshops  for  making 
shot  and  shell  for  destroying  mankind  and  defeating 
the  finest  and  loftiest  things  in  the  world — homes, 
happiness,  prosperity.  ****** 

Public  Must  Control  Actions  of  "Rulers" 

"Nowadays  men  are  prone  to  think  they  have  nothing  to  do 
with  and  cannot  control  their  own  destinies.  It  is  everybody's 
business  to  know  how  the  moneys  of  the  country  are  spent  and 
how  the  wisdom  and  judgment  of  the  chief  executives  is  directed, 
and  the  sooner  we  come  to  understand  this  the  sooner  will  be 
stopped  the  wanton  waste  of  money  for  murderous  and  destruc- 
tive agencies,  such  as  warships,  guns  and  arms.  ****** 

"I  hate  war,  because  war  is  murder,  desolation  and  de- 
struction, causeless,  unjustifiable,  cruel  and  heartless  to 
those  of  the  human  race  who  do  not  want  it,  the  countless 
millions,  the  workers.  I  hate  it  none  the  less  for  its  waste,  its 
uselessness  and  the  barriers  it  raises  against  progress,  and  the 
development  of  the  world,  human  and  material. 

"Aside  from  the  burning  fact  that  war  is  murder,  the  waster  of 
lives  and  home  and  lands,  and  that  'preparedness'  has  never 
prevented  war,  but  has  ever  brought  war  to  the  world — aside 
from  all  this  is  the  utter  futility  (from  a  cold,  hard  business  view 
alone)  of  the  equipment  of  an  army  today  with  weapons  that  are 
obsolete  tomorrow. 

"We  build  a  vast  naval  machine  today.  A  few  months  hence 
it  is  surpassed  by  that  of  another  country  and  is  practically 
useless.  We  give  our  soldiers  a  death-dealing  rifle.  Tomorrow 
another  nation's  soldiers  have  a  weapon  that  surpasses  ours. 

"The  United  States  has  spent  more  than  a  billion  dollars  on  a 
navy  and  army  that  was  to  cope  with  an  invasion  that  never 
occurred  and  never  will  occur.  And  yet  the  very  'war  experts' 

13 


who  were  responsible  for  that  burdensome  army  and  navy  admit 
that  our  army  and  navy  never  would  have  been  able  to  meet, 
with  any  hope  of  success,  those  of  other  so-called  powers. 

"And  with  all  their  prophecies  of  war  fallen  flat,  they  cry  for 
still  greater  waste. 

"The  people  of  the  United  States  have  been  compelled  to 
throw  a  billion  dollars  into  a  junk  pile,  and  these  men  would 
have  another  billion  go  the  same  way.  If  one- tenth  of  what 
has  been  spent  on  preparation  for  war  had  been  spent  on  the 
prevention  of  war,  the  world  would  always  have  been  at  peace. 

"Why,  if  the  United  States  is  threatened  by  another  nation, 
have  we  lived  in  peace  for  100  years?  Our  army  and  navy  never 
was  able  to  stop  the  'paper  invasions'  that  the  war-breeders  talked 
of,  and  yet  we  have  lived  unmolested,  happy  and  at  peace  with 
all  races  of  men. 

Isolation  is  Thorough  Protection  of  United  States 

"The  isolation  of  the  United  States  is  a  perfect  safeguard 
against  successful  invasion,  and  if  this  fact  would  not  prevent 
a  landing  of  hostile  armies  the  very  vastness  of  the  country  and 
the  enormous  population  would  make  such  an  attempt  futile. 
We  are  neither  Aztecs  nor  East  Indians. 

"The  writers  of  military  treatises  showing  how  Japan,  or 
Germany,  or  any  other  nation  could  invade  the  United  States, 
under  the  guise  of  history  and  'military  probabilities,'  are  trying 
to  fill  the  minds  of  the  people  with  fear  by  the  use  of  their  high- 
sounding  nonsense — that  is  what  the  whole  thing  is,  nonsense. 
It's  a  good  joke  to  see  these  big  business  men,  now  in  the  news- 
papers, spending  a  few  weeks'  vacation  learning  the  art  of 
soldiering.  I  wonder  if  they  are  really  frightened  by  the  stories? 

"The  pity  of  it  is  that  this  same  war  talk  is  allowed  to  take  up 
the  columns  of  newapapers  and  magazines  that  could  be  used 
toward  the  inspiration  of  peace. 

"The  advice  of  militarists  as  to  the  need  of  a  vast  army  and 
navy  is  about  the  same  as  the  advice  of  a  group  of  professional 
gamblers  would  be  in  the  framing  of  civil  laws.  The  only  differ- 
ence is  that  the  military  men  would  gamble  with  human  lives 
and  the  peace  and  plead  for  'national  honor'  when  they  mean 
'personal  glorification'  or  'blood-money.' 

14 


Edison  Won't  Aid  in  Destroying  Human  Life 

"They  have  called  in  Thomas  Edison  to  help  their  war  plans. 
Let  me  say  that  Thomas  Edison  never  has  and,  in  my  opinion, 
never  will  use  his  great  brain  to  make  anything  which  would 
destroy  human  life  or  human  property.  He  could  destroy 
nothing.  His  mind  is  a  constructive  mechanism  that  abhors 
destruction,  and  war  is  destruction.  He  is  a  man  of  peace, 
for  he  realizes  the  true  meaning  of  war — wanton,  unnecessary 
and  unreasoning  destruction,  death  and  disruption  of  all  that 
peace  has  builded. 

"I  believe  that  the  time  is  at  hand  when  the  man  who  works 
will  forever  put  an  end  to  the  system  that  can  tear  him  away 
from  his  home  and  family  to  send  him  forth  to  a  death  against 
his  will;  death  inflicted  by  another  human  worker  who  bears 
him  no  ill-will  and  to  whom  he  is  a  brother;  death  that  can  bring 
nothing  but  sorrow  to  those  he  leaves  behind;  death  hurled  out 
by  the  pressure  of  a  finger  moving  at  the  order  of  one  whom  the 
worker  has  placed  above  him  as  a  leader,  and  who  thus  betrays 
him  to  murder  and  the  danger  of  death. 

"I  believe  that  this  same  worker  is  going  to  end  the  conditions 
that  allow  the  man  he  places  above  him  to  give  that  murderous 
order;  to  cause  him  to  seek  the  life  of  a  brother  worker  in  another 
land  and  send  that  brother  searching  in  turn  for  his  blood. 

"And  I  would  assist  this  worker  to  educate  his  children  from 
the  cradle  to  think  only  in  terms  of  peace,  to  hate  war,  and  all 
the  accoutrements  of  war,  and  strive  forever  to  drive  from  the 
world  this  spirit  of  murder,  destruction  and  chaos. 

"The  present  war's  end  will,  I  believe  and  hope,  see  the  end 
of  the  military  spirit  and  the  military  castes  in  all  Europe;  the 
death  of  the  military  party  in  Germany;  and  those  very  workers 
who  are  today  performing  wonders  of  arms  against  the  whole 
of  Europe  under  the  eyed  of  an  emporer  and  a  Fatherland  may 
be  the  very  ones  who  will  end  that  reign  of  militarism. 

"So  that  it  may  be  said:  'We  have  ended  war  forever;  we  have 
done  away  with  the  parasites  that  breed  war  in  the  world.'  And 
from  every  nation  in  Europe,  in  the  world,  will  come  the  echo  of 
the  words,  'We  have  ended  war  forever.'  That  cry  will  be  the 
cry  of  the  man  who  works,  the  man  created  to  love  and  be  loved 
by  his  fellows,  to  enjoy  peace  and  to  share  that  joy  with  all." 

15 


World  Big  Enough  to  Give  Peace  to  All 

"Surely  the  world  is  big  enough  for  all  to  live  in  at  peace  with 
all.  If  nations  want  colonies  they  can  have  them  without  killing 
their  sons  and  devastating  homes  and  lives.  If  Germany,  as 
many  of  her  opponents  claim,  wanted  colonies,  she  could  have 
secured  a  very  extensive  'place  in  the  sun'  by  direct  purchase — a 
business  transaction  for  a  fraction  of  the  terrific  cost  she  is  now 
paying  in  warfare. 

"I  could  today  make  vast  sums  from  warfare  if  I  so 
chose,  but  it  would  be  better  to  die  a  pauper  than  that 
anything  I  have  helped  to  make,  or  that  any  thought, 
word  or  act  of  mine  should  be  used  for  the  furtherance  of 
this  slaughter. 

"I  shall  expect  the  sneers  and  condemnation  of  those 
whose  business  is  war  and  of  those  who  profit  by  war.  But 

I  can  weigh  against  this  the  feeling  for  peace  and  against  war 
and  the  spirit  that  brings  war,  which,  I  know,  burns  in  the  hearts 
of  the  masses  the  world  over,  and  in  this  I  will  feel  that  I  am 
right. 

"I  shall  raise  my  voice  in  no  controversy  with  those  who  cry 
out  that  such  peace  would  bring  destruction  upon  us  by  martial 
nations,  but  who  really  mean  that  they  would  have  peace 
by  enforcing  their  will  upon  others  with  cannon,  and 
whose  constant  cry  of  'prepare*  cloaks  their  damnable 
aims.  The  very  thought  of  such  men  and  such  ideas  cannot  but 
bring  the  strongest  words  of  condemnation  and  reproach  from 
any  man. 

"The  building  of  armament  by  the  United  States  is  not  only  a 
waste  of  itself  and  a  war-breeding  policy,  it  is  worse  still,  it  is 
an  example  that  the  nations  of  Latin  America  and  all  the  world 
have  followed,  adding  the  burden  and  the  danger  to  the  peoples 
in  those  lands. 

"The  nations  of  the  world  need  an  example  to  lead  them  away 
from  war,  and  this,  the  country  we  live  in,  is,  I  believe,  the  land 
destined  to  show  the  world  the  way  toward  the  end  of  this  mur- 
der. The  world  has  followed  the  United  States  for  generations 
in  all  that  goes  for  progress.  Let  us  have  disarmament;  let  us 
show  that  we  mean  peace  when  we  say  the  word,  and  the  world 
will  follow  in  that,  too. 

16 


"I  feel,  and  I  have  the  world's  history  and  the  spirit  of  a 
world's  people  back  of  me,  that  the  'preparedness'  now  being 
preached  is  nothing  but  a  criminal  waste,  a  call  to  slaughter, 
and  a  disgrace  to  a  nation  that  has  been  the  guiding  star  of  the 
world  towards  liberty,  happiness  and  peace. 

"I  realize  only  too  well  that  since  the  beginning  of  history  the 
overpowering,  unanswerable  weapon  of  wealth  always,  down  to 
this  very  day,  has  been  on  the  side  of  slaughter,  and  this,  I  know, 
has  stood  as  the  great  barrier  to  the  peace  that  men  have  craved 
since  civilization  was  born. 

"If  I  can  but  see  the  world — and  America  is  the  brain  of  the 
world  and  the  brain  the  guide  of  all — moving  toward  that  day 
when  war  shall  cease,  when  nations  shall  not  burden  the  workers 
with  the  enormous  expense  of  huge  armaments  and  then  destroy 
the  workers  with  those  very  armaments,  I  shall  be  content  to 
end  my  days  where  I  began,  an  humble  worker  in  a  peaceful 
world. 

"Millions  of  men,  every  one  of  them  a  husband,  a  son,  a  father 
or  a  brother,  have  gone  to  their  death  within  a  year  on  the 
battlefields  of  Europe.  There  is  sorrow  in  millions  of  homes,  a 
dozen  nations  are  paralyzed  and  filled  with  mangled,  crippled 
men  and  boys  who  by  the  laws  of  nature  can  only  produce  child- 
ren who  will  in  some  way  bear,  in  part,  the  burden  and  mark  of 
their  parents'  suffering.  And  all  for  nothing. 

"It  is  horrible  to  contemplate.  If  these  men  who  brought 
on  the  war  were  insane,  we  could  comprehend  the  cause 
of  the  war.  But  when  we  think  that  all  is  done  coldly,  delib- 
erately by  these  militaristic  parasites,  and  that  millions  of 
men  are  torn  from  the  life  that  is  theirs  by  right  of  birth,  and 
driven  to  slaughter  by  the  system  of  murder  that  envelopes 
these  nations,  we  are  crushed  by  the  enormous  crime. 

"The  very  thought  of  this  makes  me  feel  that  I  know  of  nothing 
to  which  I  would  rather  give  my  life,  nothing  that  would  give 
me  a  more  certain  feeling  that  I  was  doing  a  man's  work,  nothing 
that  would  make  me  feel  more  content  in  the  knowledge  that  I 
had  done  a  great  duty  that  had  been  placed  before  me,  than  to 
use  that  which  I  have  to  help  bring  to  an  end  6,000  years  of  this 
unjustified  hatred,  ruthless  waste,  destruction  and  murder.  * 

"In  all  the  history  of  civilization  I  cannot  find  one 
man  who  has  justified  war,  who  did  not  publicly  brand  it  as 

17 


the  curse  of  man  and  the  work  of  Cain.  Yet  these  same  men  are 
often  the  very  ones  who  call  for  the  'preparedness'  that  brings 
on  war.  What  can  we  think  of  men  who  cry  aloud  against  mur- 
der and  yet  fly  eagerly  to  place  in  the  hands  of  their  children, 
or  more  frequently  the  children  of  their  more  humble  brothers, 
the  implements  of  murder? 

Quotation  from  Mr.  Ford's  Statement  in 
Detroit  Free  Press,  September  5th,  1915. 

Sloths  and  Lunatics  in  Military  Cliques 

"The  working  man  is  beginning  to  realize  that  it  is  not  the 
rulers  of  the  nations  who  make  war,  be  they  presidents,  kings  or 
emperors.  It  is  the  military  cliques  that  surround  and  sway  them 
— it  has  always  been  these  same  parasites,  these  sloths  and 
lunatics.  For  I  firmly  believe  that  every  man  who  delib- 
erately devotes  his  life  to  the  trade  of  a  soldier  is  either 
lazy  or  crazy,  and,  unhappily,  most  of  them  are  merely  lazy, 
so  we  are  not  permitted  to  put  them  in  asylums. 

"Nor  is  it  always  the  fault  of  the  young  men  who  go  into  the 
army  or  navy  that  they  do  so.  In  many  cases  it  is  the  last  choice. 
If  the  large  manufacturers  and  business  men  of  the  world  would 
make  it  their  duty  and  religion  to  see  that  their  men  are  paid  a 
wage  that  will  make  them  contented,  and  assure  them  of  steady 
employment,  then  the  recruiting  officers  for  the  militarists  would 
have  even  a  harder  job  to  get  disciples. 

"Instead,  many  of  these  business  men  are  working  hand  in 
glove  with  the  military  men  who  start,  drive  and  end  the  wars. 
And  they  are  in  it  for  what  they  can  get  out  of  the  murder — to 
fatten  their  wallets.  They  work  for  the  very  conditions  that  pre- 
vent good  wages  and  steady  work  for  willing  men.  What  will 
they  do  with  their  surplus  of  munition-makers  when  the  war  is 
ended? 


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